The present invention relates generally to the field of viewing guide information of transmission programming, and more particularly to determining control ratings of media programming transmitted without control ratings.
Transmission of television programming may include information about the type of program, the duration of the program transmission, an overview of the content, as well as other information. Information that may be particularly useful is the parental control rating associated with the transmitted media program. Parental control information uses a rating system to indicate to parents how appropriate a program's content may be for a viewing audience.
TV parental control guidelines for the US, Canada and Brazil include TV-Y, designated as appropriate for all children; TV-Y7, designated for children age 7 and above; TV-G, designated as most parents would find the program suitable for all ages; TV-PG, for programs containing material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children; TV-14, for programs that contain some material that parental guardians may find unsuitable for children under the age of 14; TV-MA, for programs specifically designed to be viewed by adults and may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17. In addition, some cases of parental guidance include sub-ratings that use alphabetic letters to designate the unsuitable area contained in the program. For example, “D” may used to indicate suggestive dialog, “L” designates coarse language, and “V” may be used to indicate the program contains violence.
The transmission signal includes a special code which indicates the program's rating for the content of the transmission. The programs' rating information is encoded on line 21 of the transmission signal's vertical blanking interval (VBI) using the extended data service (XDS) protocol. XDS is an Electronic Industries Alliance standard (CEA-608-E) used by TV stations, networks and program syndication distributors for the delivery of data associated with the transmission program, among other purposes. If the program rating is outside the level configured as acceptable on a particular television set, the program is blocked.
Most televisions manufactured after 1996 include technology enabling the control of program viewing based on selection of parental ratings. Using this technology, parents can adjust their television sets so that programs with content unsuitable for the selected parental control rating are blocked and cannot be viewed unless the parental control is changed or disabled. Precautions taken to insure only appropriate programs are viewable can be ineffective if programs are transmission without the associated parental control rating, especially in the case of program re-transmissions, which may omit parental control ratings.